Article About Stomach Cancer

Recommended Posts

I just got my son's genetic test results today and was doing a websearch on HLA-DQB1*0301 (DQ3). I came across this article on Medscape from 2002. It's really short, so I'll copy and paste it, then provide the link.

//////////////////////////////////////////

Association of HLA-DQB1*0301 and HLA-DQB1*0602 with different subtypes of gastric cancer in Taiwan.

Oh ugg. I feel like I'm gonna be sick. My dad died of stomach cancer. And my daughter, my son and I all have the 0602 gene. My son has the 0301, which appears to be good news. My dad never knew his father, but I could swear when we heard about him YEARS ago, he had died of stomach cancer.

Crap.

Well, it's a good thing I like my GI doctor.

This really irks me, because I keep seeing things that say that there's no evidence of a link between gluten intolerance and stomach cancer. That's BS. How much more of a link can there be than the two conditions having the EXACT SAME GENE.

Hey - yeah, I have 602 also. But I wouldn't stress about it too much - first of all, if you are gluten free (and your son, etc) then you have already lowered the chance of any of this happening. Also, this experiment was conducted on males from Taiwan, so unless you are of this specific group, it might not have anything to do with the other. Meaning there are other variables present. I have looked my genes up before and gotten all freaked out - the other one I have, 303, is linked with some weird stuff - but all the studies are of Arabic women, which I am not. I did ask if the fact I have a gene that seems to be linked with Mediterranean/Arabic routes when I am obviously not (I"m 7/8ths Dutch, the rest is Scottish/Welsh) is a fluke or what. There are no absolute answers.

Anyway, it's interesting stuff and something to be mindful of, but don't keep yourself up at night... Seriously!

The CDH1 gene mutation was first discovered in 1998 in a large New Zealand family with a history of stomach cancer. Those with the mutation have a 70 percent risk of stomach cancer.

It killed Golda Bradfield in 1960. She passed the faulty gene to seven of her children. Six died of the disease in their 40s and 50s.

The 18 grandchildren learned of the defective gene after one of them, David Allen, died of stomach cancer in 2003. His doctor had sent a blood sample to Huntsman's lab, which confirmed the genetic mutation.